CLARIFICATION ON SENATE RESOLUTION 516 FROM ATTY. HERMINIO BAGRO III, CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE OFFICE OF SEN. KIKO PANGILINAN

Senate Resolution 516, that urges the government to exercise its power to stop the spate of killings, especially of young people, in the country, was signed by 16 senators as of Wednesday last week, September 20. The resolution can be accessed by the public at the Senate website (http://senate.gov.ph/lisdata/2677823004!.pdf).

As Senator Pangilinan wanted to gather more signatures, on Thursday, September 21, at 12 noon, we sent the copy through the publicly available (http://senate.gov.ph/senators/sen17th.asp) and official email of Senators Richard Gordon, Gregorio Honasan, Cynthia Villar, Miguel Zubiri, and Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III. This was done to inform them about the resolution and to show the number of signatures, and to ask them if they want to sponsor it. (See attached email screenshot.)

Senator Gordon acknowledged receipt of the email on the same day.

On Monday, September 25, we filed the resolution at 5:33 p.m. This was more than three (3) days since it was emailed to the above senators.

On Tuesday, September 26, it was read on the floor, stating the title of the resolution and the names of the 16 co-authors. It should be noted that no one manifested desire to be a co-author of the measure. Senate President Pimentel referred it to the committee of Senators Hontiveros and Lacson.

Clearly there was no attempt to keep or withhold the resolution from the seven senators. The Senate rules were followed.

And most importantly, the Senate is showing that it cares to find justice for victims of all extrajudicial killings.